The garden and pool area was once a rocky field sloping down to the sidewalk.

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To SFGate

The garden and pool area was once a rocky field sloping down to the...

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An image of guests enjoying the La Playa pool in the 1960s.

Photo: La Playa Hotel

An image of guests enjoying the La Playa pool in the 1960s.

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The La Playa hotel in 1926. The core of the 75-room hotel, where the main entrance is today, began life in 1905 as a mansion designed by landscape artist Christian Jorgensen for his wife, a member of the Ghirardelli family.

Photo: La Playa Hotel

The La Playa hotel in 1926. The core of the 75-room hotel, where...

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An exterior shot of the Carmel's "Grande Dame," the La Playa Hotel, which reopens in August.

Photo: La Playa Hotel

An exterior shot of the Carmel's "Grande Dame," the La Playa Hotel,...

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The La Playa Hotel reopens August 1 after a $3.5 million renovation. It was last remodeled in 1984 by Newton Cope, who also owned San Francisco's Huntington Hotel. La Playa's latest renovation has pulled off a clever feat in this era

Photo: La Playa Hotel

The La Playa Hotel reopens August 1 after a $3.5 million...

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Although it's changed hands over the years and undergone multiple renovations, the hotel maintains its traditional qualities.

Photo: La Playa Hotel

Although it's changed hands over the years and undergone multiple...

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The La Playa hotel as it looked in 1926. In 1916, Alice Signor turned the mansion into what local papers called a "home hotel" an upscale boarding house.

Photo: La Playa Hotel

The La Playa hotel as it looked in 1926. In 1916, Alice Signor...

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La Playa's renovation doesn't feel like a remodel, but rather makes the historic space appear as if it's just been impeccably maintained.

Photo: La Playa Hotel

La Playa's renovation doesn't feel like a remodel, but rather makes...

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Another view of one of the hotel's updated rooms.

Photo: La Playa Hotel

Another view of one of the hotel's updated rooms.

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The 100-year-old Grande Dame of Carmel, La Playa Hotel, officially reopens with new owners and a fresh renovation Aug. 1. Each room is different; Extra large Room 415 has an ocean view, a dining table and sitting area with sofa, coffee table and two chairs.

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To SFGate

The 100-year-old Grande Dame of Carmel, La Playa Hotel, officially...

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A stairway leads to the garden between the original building and the 1932 addition, which are now connected.

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To SFGate

A stairway leads to the garden between the original building and...

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The giant chess board that was added to the brick patio has been in use every day since the hotel started accepting guests.

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To SFGate

The giant chess board that was added to the brick patio has been in...

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The refurbished lobby is truer to the original than its recent incarnations were.

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To SFGate

The refurbished lobby is truer to the original than its recent...

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The bar area was refurbished, but the bar itself was untouched.

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To SFGate

The bar area was refurbished, but the bar itself was untouched.

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The library doubles as a dining room at breakfast time, and leads to the outdoor dining terrace.

Carmel gets its cherished "Grande Dame" back next week when the La Playa Hotel, closed since October, reopens after a $3.5 million renovation that is as notable for what it did not change as for what's new. Generation after generation has gathered at the 100-year-old landmark for weddings, retreats, business meetings, salons or a simple glass of wine at sunset, and the new owners took a straightforward approach that puts tradition ahead of bling; they didn't try to fix what wasn't broken.

"The owners are very down-to-earth," says Mary Crowe, who was lured from Napa Valley's Villagio Inn and Spa to become La Playa's general manager. "They wanted the hotel to have a very residential quality, where people could have breakfast whenever they want, have a snack in the afternoon, use the Internet without having to think about it. The philosophy is that the accommodation should include everything you do at home, so you can relax and not do math."

The core of the 75-room hotel, where the main entrance is today, began life in 1905 as a mansion designed by landscape artist Christian Jorgensen for his wife, a member of the Ghirardelli family. It was a fantasy inspired by the Carmel Mission — his stained-glass star window remains near the entrance, in what started out as a stone tower — presiding over a bluff looking over the cypress- and pine-fringed Pacific coastline. As it turns out, the couple didn't live in their dream house for long. A magnet for artists and writers during Carmel's seminal bohemian period, it became a popular salon, and the Jorgensens moved to Pebble Beach in search of privacy.

In 1916, Alice Signor turned the mansion into what local papers called a "home hotel" — an upscale boarding house. Her nephews, the Godwin Brothers, later turned it into a full-service hotel. They added 20 rooms, a kitchen and dining room, and charged $2.50 a night. The hotel changed hands a few more times, acquiring Carmel's first swimming pool, a new building next to the original mansion, a two-level brick patio and ever more elaborate landscaping. It was last remodeled in 1984 by Newton Cope, who also owned San Francisco's Huntington Hotel.

The official grand opening for the newly renovated hotel, now called La Playa Carmel, is Aug. 1, though it has already been accepting guests for a "soft opening." The new incarnation pulls off a clever feat in this era of overwrought luxury: It doesn't feel remodeled at all, coming across instead as traditional and impeccably maintained. The hotel's exterior and the public spaces hew close to its past; to most guests, La Playa will seem like a hotel from another era that happens to have airy, beach cottage-style rooms with pillow-top mattresses, high-thread-count sheets, and flat-screen cable TV. The classic casement windows, the well-used doorknobs, the solidly built-in full-length mirrors, the shell ceiling lights, all belong to another era. Fit into the property's evolution from private mansion to resort hotel, each room is unique.

The hotel's legions of longtime repeat guests might notice the different pitch of the banquette in the bar, the giant chess board on the patio and absence of the hulking wrought-iron gazebo, and the soundproofing that spares them from partaking of neighbors conversations and sneezes. But the bar itself wasn't changed a bit, and the lobby looks more like it did in the 1940s than in the 1980s. The same stained-glass window illuminates the curved, tiled stairway where brides have posed with their wedding trains fanned out decade after decade.

Some of the most important changes are invisible, such as the soundproofing and brand-new plumbing, electrical wiring and Internet cable. The entire renovation was undertaken with sustainability in mind. The rooms reveal that sensibility in the divided wastebaskets designating one side for recyclables, and in the card indicating the now-common practice of not changing linens unless specifically requested. Less obvious are the choice of rapidly renewable materials for the furniture, carpeting and even the picture frames. The hotel employs a full-time sustainability manager.

La Playa's past is, if anything, more present after this renovation than it has been for decades. The building itself is the greatest repository of Carmel history, but its walls are a virtual museum as well, holding historic photos, posters, covers of the 19th century satire magazine "The Wasp" and Jo Mora's intricately detailed and wittily annotated maps of San Francisco and Carmel.

"The tradition here is just amazing," Crowe says. "We intend to continue that tradition and hopefully start some new ones."